Gospel Prism

UPDATE 1: The “somebody near and dear to me” is my Dad. Thanks to all who have asked and are praying.
UPDATE 2: I have heard from/about 6 people just today (6/24) who have been affected by the Piper/Powlison piece referred to below. Do yourself a favor: read this piece NOW. You might not need it currently but you’ll want to have knowledge of it stashed away for the future.

It has been a tough couple of days.

On Wednesday, in the midst of what started as an incredibly productive day, I received one of “those” phone calls. It was not the type of call you like to receive or make. I learned, via phone, that somebody near and dear to me was diagnosed with malignant cancer of the small intestine.

Today, just a few minutes ago, my cell delivered another of “those” calls. Additional testing shows that my loved one apparently has cancer on the kidneys, too.

It is a blessing to lean on those within the body of Christ who love and support you at times like this. Their prayers are sweet. Their calls and emails and IMs really help.

John Piper wrote a piece called “Don’t Waste Your Cancer” a few years ago when he was diagnosed with the condition. Shortly after JP wrote, David Powlison received a similar diagnois; DP added to JP’s article. You can read what they wrote here; I strongly urge you to read this.

Truthfully, though I read JP & DP two years ago and uttered hearty amens, it is a little hard to read parts of this column at this time. But the one point that they write that resonants with me right now is this: “You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God. (emphasis mine)” Piper writes:

It is not wrong to know about cancer. Ignorance is not a virtue. But the lure to know more and more and the lack of zeal to know God more and more is symptomatic of unbelief. Cancer is meant to waken us to the reality of God. It is meant to put feeling and force behind the command, “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3). It is meant to waken us to the truth of Daniel 11:32, “The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.” It is meant to make unshakable, indestructible oak trees out of us: “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1:2). What a waste of cancer if we read day and night about cancer and not about God.

Powlison adds:

What is so for your reading is also true for your conversations with others. Other people will often express their care and concern by inquiring about your health. That’s good, but the conversation easily gets stuck there. So tell them openly about your sickness, seeking their prayers and counsel, but then change the direction of the conversation by telling them what your God is doing to faithfully sustain you with 10,000 mercies. Robert Murray McCheyne wisely said, “For every one look at your sins, take ten looks at Christ.” He was countering our tendency to reverse that 10:1 ratio by brooding over our failings and forgetting the Lord of mercy. What McCheyne says about our sins we can also apply to our sufferings. For every one sentence you say to others about your cancer, say ten sentences about your God, and your hope, and what he is teaching you, and the small blessings of each day. For every hour you spend researching or discussing your cancer, spend 10 hours researching and discussing and serving your Lord. Relate all that you are learning about cancer back to him and his purposes, and you won’t become obsessed.

Good advice, that, for both those who have cancer and those who love someone who is cancer-stricken. I don’t feel like an oak right now. But God, in His kindness, has dumped 10,000 mercies on me. He has put me in a place where men and women look to Christ, tell me what they see, and ask me to look, too, so that I can tell them what I see. Let’s look together now.